Former NBA Sixth Man of the Year Lamar Odom has inked a deal to play the rest of the Spanish League season with top conference team Laboral Kutxa.
According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, the two sides reached a deal in principle sometime on Monday and the two-time NBA champ is now expected to formally join his new teammates as soon as he’s able. Terms of the deal were not revealed.
Odom last played in the NBA in 2012-13 with the L.A. Clippers before widespread rumors of his hardcore drug use after the season derailed his return. That same summer he became a free-agent, but has since been unable to catch on with any other NBA team after briefly spending time in a rehab facility.
In December of last year, he also pleaded no contest to a DUI charge in California for which he was sentenced to three years-probation and ordered to undergo three months of alcohol abuse treatment. The 34-year-old, 14-year NBA vet was also ordered to pay $1,814 in fines and penalties in lieu of facing up to six-months in a L.A. County jail.
After four years of high-profile matrimony, Odom is also now in the midst of a messy split from his reality TV star wife Khloe Kardashian. Citing irreconcilable differences, the 29-year-old Keeping Up with the Kardashians star formally filed for divorce from her NBA husband last December.
But in recent months, Odom has vowed to put all that behind him and refocus on jump-starting his career. In November, he met with Clippers coach Doc Rivers about possibly rejoining the team and soon thereafter entered into an extensive training program aimed at getting him back in NBA-level shape.
Speculation is Odom now further views his latest move as a way of staying sharp and keeping in shape as he plots his NBA return. Odom’s best overall NBA season came during his 2010-11 Sixth Man Award winning season when he averaged 14 points, nine rebounds, and three assists.
